Secrets
by Ninja Ahsoka
Summary: Ed runs into the Homunculi again and ends up in the hospital. Winry comes to fix Ed's automail, but she tries to get Ed and Al to tell her how they keep getting hurt. Will Ed tell her the truth about the Homunculi, Scar and the constant danger they face? Or will he try to protect her from the truth?


Winry Rockbell shuffled through the hospital halls, her bag of tools and automail parts clanking and rattling by her side. Ed had done it again. He'd gone off and done his state alchemist work and busted his arm again. As reckless as he was, he was still alive, fortunately, but this time he'd nearly blown his entire arm off. She didn't even want to know how he'd managed to pull off something like that. At least this time it wasn't her fault with a forgotten screw. But Edward worried her to death. He'd do all sorts of crazy things and he'd get himself hurt, then all Winry could do about it was worry about what he'd done this time. It was dangerous out there for him and she wished with all her heart that she could do something more to help him than fixing his automail every now and then. She cared about him.

She scanned the signs by each door, looking for Ed's room. Her heart pounded, afraid to see how badly Ed was hurt. At least Al was alright. Once, he'd lost his whole bottom half. They'd gone through the most bizarre things in their lifetimes. They were definitely different from most people.

In the corner of her eye, she saw a blue uniform down the hall. She quickly turned her focus to it to find Maes Hughes walking out of what must've been Edward's room. "Colonel Hughes!" she yelled after him. A nurse passing her hushed her with her finger. "Oh, pardon me!" Winry whispered.

Colonel Hughes waved at her, smiling brightly. "Ms. Rockbell!" he yelled in reply. The nurse turned towards him and hushed him like she did Winry. He didn't pay her any attention and paced down the hall to greet Winry. "It sure is good to see you, Winry!" he said, this time much quieter.

"You too, Colonel! Did you happen to be in Ed's room just now?" she said, peering down the hall.

"I sure was! Just down the hall!" he said, as energetic as ever.

"Thank you, Colonel!" she waved, running down the hall.

"Anytime, Winry!"

When she opened the door to step inside, she knew she'd gotten the right room. "Aw, come on, Ed! Give it back!" "I just wanna see it for a sec!" "No, Brother! It's personal!" Al was running around Ed's bed and Ed was holding a card, turning his back to whatever side Al ran to to hide it from him. "Hey, isn't this from that girl who swallowed that Philosopher's Stone that one time?" Ed teased, trying to read the card.

"It doesn't ma-" Al had turned to face the door where Winry was standing laughing. "Winry!"

Ed popped his head up and looked at her with his golden eyes and smiled sarcastically. "Took ya long enough to get here!"

She folded her arms. "I'd just be glad that you have an automail mechanic as good as I am." Then she smiled and ran over to Ed and threw her arms around him. "It's good to see you Ed!"

When she let go, Ed was blushing and scratching his head. "Right, uh, you too, Winry."

She ran over to his right side to look at his automail and her heart dropped. "Wow, you weren't kidding. Your arm is nearly torn to pieces…."

He tried avoiding eye contact with her. "Yeah, about that…."

She pointed a finger at him. "This time, I want some answers, Ed. I'm stuck at home worried about what happens to you next and I come fix you up without a clue of what actually happened." She folded her arms. "So you're gonna tell me!"

Ed started sweating. "Uh…." He looked over at Al who stood next to him, twiddling his thumbs. Ed turned back to face Winry, grinning as big as he could. "It was just a little run in with the Homunculi, is all! No problem, Winry!"

She pulled a wrench out of her bag. "No problem?! Look what they did to you! Why do they care about you so much?!" she raged.

Ed's expression changed as he turned his gaze to his sheets, his face looking gloomy. "It's nothing Winry. I don't want you to be a part of this."

"Well I'm already apart of it, Ed, the moment Al came through my door as a suit of armor carrying you, covered in blood! I need to know what's going on!"

Ed looked up, pain in his eyes from the memory of that night.

"Fullmetal," came a voice from the door. They looked to the source to find Colonel Mustang coming in. Winry caught his eye and he nodded at her in respect. Then he brought his attention back to Edward. "I need a full report on the incident with every detail." Lieutenant Hawkeye squeezed passed Mustang and handed Ed a pad of paper and a pen. "Write it when you feel well enough. You need rest."

Edward looked confused. "No deadline? You'd better not be pitying me, Mustang."

"Fine. Have it done by tomorrow then, if that's what you want."

Ed was taken aback. "Tomorrow?!"

"Yeah, and it better be done when I come to pick it up," he said, walking out the door with his hand in the air to say goodbye. Hawkeye shrugged at Ed and followed Mustang, shutting the door behind her.

Ed dropped the pad and the pen on the floor and folded his arms indignantly. "Pfft, he can't tell me what to do. Just who does he think he is?!"

"Uh, the Colonel?" Al pointed out.

Winry pulled up a chair to Ed's bedside and started taking her tools out of her bag. "Okay Ed, I'm going to need to disconnect your automail."

He sighed as his heart dropped. He didn't mind getting it disconnected, but connecting the nerves was too painful. "Alright."

She removed his automail and worked on it for hours. It was silent except when Ed or Al would try unsuccessfully to start up a conversation. Winry was quiet and Edward knew it was because of what they were talking about earlier. She was right. They never told her anything and they just expected her to be able to deal with that. He didn't want to think about how much Winry must've been worrying about them everyday. He knew he had to explain everything to her, but would the truth make her feel even worse? He could tell her about the Homunculi and how they call him the "sacrifice". He could tell her about the serial killer hunting him down. He could tell her about the constant danger they're in, but how could that make anyone feel better about anything? Sure, she was being eaten by questions and worry, but would telling her be better than any of that? He knew it couldn't be. He knew he couldn't tell her. Though he wanted to tell her about their lives and everything they've done and what they're doing so badly, in his heart he knew it was impossible. He was a dog of the military and he knew he was chained up tight.


End file.
